Negotiate Your Salary Like A Pro!

Yesterday, I met with another law firm, a former employer of mine. I managed to sell myself pretty well I think, especially since they know me from before. It was not until the last minutes that we started to discuss the salary issue. I must say I was kind of surprised: They said that they have a fixed system that applies to everyone, no exceptions allowed. This means that I would enter on the exact same salary that I have from my present employer. And – the salary will be fixed there until I become a partner, if I become a partner.

The continued discussion here will be very interesting. This is a tricky situation when negotiating the salary. Are they bluffing or not? Can it really be true that they have no flexibility at all, depending on for example the estimated revenues I can generate for the law firm? I was not ready to raise this question yet, but will come back to it next time we meet. This is a typical situation where I, when negotiating the salary, must focus hard on the employer’s interest. What can their interest be in applying a fixed salary system for everyone? How can I appeal to their interest in order to make them alter their position here?

The answer to the last question is quite obvious. I will simply say: “Let’s forget about me for a while. There is one thing I must understand: How do you think that you will be able to recruit quite senior and experienced lawyers as myself if the only thing you can offer is a fixed salary until a time when you might  be accepted as a partner, something that you never can take for granted that you will be? Don’t you think that such a standpoint will mean that these lawyers – many of which will definitely generate a lot of revenue for the firm – will go to competing law firms? Before I consider your offer, I feel I must understand this.”

I must, in short, appeal to their self interest. The trick is, however, to make the explain themselves. This is important to know for anyone about to negotiate the salary. Many people don’t like to be forced to explain things that really cannot be explained. They might refer to “company policy” or something similar, but then I can replicate that I need to understand the company policy.

The story continues…

Tomorrow, I am up for another interview. It is a law firm that I used to work for earlier in my career. I know they are interested. I am interested too. What matters now is the compensation package – mainly the salary.

My strategy is clear: I will – as always – listen and try to find out what their interests are and where I might fit in their plans. When I have figured that out, I can present myself as the solution to their problems, the satisfaction of their needs. And then – when they are really interested – I am prepared to discuss the salary.

So, yesterday I met with another potential employer. Again, they were really interested in hiring me. And again, they always start to talk about the “bad times” when it comes to discussing compensation etc. I was prepared for that argument however and could easily show them why the “bad times” argument did not apply in my case (since the area of law I am working within is not affected by the bad times.

In my eBook “Negotiate Your Salary Like A Pro!” I discuss the question whether to make the first offer or not. As regards this employer that I met yesterday, I had not been able to find much relevant data. Thus, I was not in a position to make the first offer. The started out with a figure not acceptable to me. Since I have quite a lot of leverage because of my competence and potential clients, I was able to turn down their offer immediately, telling them to come back at a much higher level.

At the same time, I offered them some openings when thinking about the new offer. I told them that they, for example, could try to find a good mix of a fixed salary and a foreseeable bonus system. By giving them things like that to think about, I showed them that I am a reasonable negotitator, which will motivate them to come back with a reasonable offer (according to the norm of reciprocity).

In the meantime, I have informed my present employer of the fact that I am looking for a new job. They are not too happy about that and say they want to keep me. Obviously, that will then cost them money (in the form of a higher salary to me). I am – that is – seriously working on by BATNA – Best Alternative To A Negotiated Offer. This I can use both to ensure that I don’t agree to anything less than the BATNA and to increase my leverage. Basically, everyone else will have to over bid my BATNA.

Today, I will meet with another law firm. Actually, it is the one I want to work at. This I have not told them of course. I follow my own advice in “Negotiate Your Salary Like A Pro!” and try to not reveal my own interests while trying to find out as much as possible about their interests.

I have prepared well for this meeting. When I contacted them they showed interest but said that I had to write down a “business case” for myself first. It’s how they work these law firms, they don’t want to hire a quite senior lawyer unless they are certain that s/he will be a profitable investment.

Writing this business plan was a perfect opportunity for me to make the sale of myself and my skills. As any salesman would, I focused hard on showing the benefits for this law firm if they hire me. Having done a competition analysis I showed them how they will be able to dominate the particular area of law I am specialized in within three years.

This will make their eyes look like dollar signs, and they will not want to lose me to another law firm. At least that’s my plan.

So, today I’ll go to the meeting and listen carefully to their reactions to my ”business plan”. I will try to avoid discussing any salary figures but will continue to try to find as much as I can about their interests and plans.

The story continues tomorrow.

/David Hill

Today, I have started the process of getting a new job. I have contacted five different law firms and I will now meet them one by one. During this process I will obviously have to negotiate my salary with them. I will then, naturally, use the techniques I teach in my book “Negotiate Your Salary Like A Pro!”

Follow me on my quest for a higher salary! I will post here regularly to tell how I am doing.

Regards,

David Hill

See on my website how you can use the norm of reciprocity to your advantage when negotiating your salary.

Regards,

David Hill

Can you negotiate for an increased salary with your body only, without saying a word? Admittedly, a strange question. But still an important one.

Over 90 per cent of what we communicate we communicate silently, non-verbally. We are, without even knowing it, like walking radio transmitters, unconsciously telling and influencing people with our bodies. We are also like walking radio receivers, tuning into what people around us are saying with their bodies. What an employee or job seeker transmit with his/her body in the salary negotiation often makes the difference between success and failure. A basic rule of body language is that a body transmitting success often leads the “body owner” to success. And reverse – a body transmitting failure will lead the way to failure.

Why? Because of two things: First, contrary to what the old French philosopher Descartes believed (and millions of people after him), the body and mind are one. The body expresses what’s in the mind. The mind expresses what the body feels. Second, according to the so called Law of correspondence, the inside manifests in the outside. What a person truly and deeply believe and strive for will take on material existence. If the fact that body and mind are one is combined with the Law of correspondence, a simple conclusion can be drawn: If you take on the body language of success, success will be on your mind and since success is on your mind, your success will also become reality.

Therefore, although an employee obviously cannot negotiate a higher salary without talking, he can use his body to substantially increase his chances of success.

Make a Google or Yahoo search on “earn more money” and you will get millions of results. Day trading, real estate, internet marketing – there are hundreds of tips and brilliant ideas out there. They all have one thing in common though. The do not only hold a promise of more money. They all involve risks of losing money as well. In order to generate money you need to invest money and investing money means by definition a risk of losing the money.

There is, however, one almost fools proof and risk free way of earning more money: to negotiate for an increased salary. Given a long term strategy, careful preparations and good knowledge of basic negotiation techniques, an employee has the opportunity to earn substantially more money by obtaining recurring and substantial salary increases. This is a fact that applies also during the ongoing economic crisis.

Thus – instead of making risky investments in stocks or property, employees can make risk free investments in learning how to negotiate a salary. They can learn how to prepare for a salary negotiation by finding the salary range within which they can negotiate, by identifying the particular interests of the employer that the employee can appeal to in order to ask for a higher salary, by analyzing and improving their bargaining power and so on. They can learn when to negotiate the salary and if they should make the first offer or not. They can learn how to respond to offers made. They can learn how to draw bargaining strength from soft values such as honesty and reciprocity in the salary negotiation. In short, they can learn how to negotiate their salaries like a professional would do.

Learning how to negotiate a salary is by far the safest investment for increased income that an employee can make. An employee having this knowledge will double his income twice as fast as an employee without this knowledge. Even during the economic crisis.

David Hill

When an employee shall negotiate the salary careful preparations and use of proven techniques at the negotiation table are keys to success. However, no matter how well prepared or skilled in negotiations the employee is: if the timing is wrong, the employee will fail. The employee must wait for the best moment to start discussing actual figures with the employer.

The salary is the price for labor. The employee is selling himself and his labor to the employer. The employee must think as any salesman thinks. When does a car sales man bring up the price when selling a car? Does he start out by saying: “Over here I have a car for $30,000. It is a Ford…”? Of course not! A car salesman starts to talk about the car, praises its advantages over other cars, convinces the customer that this particular car will fulfill the customer’s needs. Only then, when the customer is already convinced that this is the car he needs, does the car sales man want to discuss price.

The employee must try to do the same thing in the salary negotiation. He must avoid the employer’s question about the salary as long as it takes to convince the employer that this particular employee is what the employer is looking for. The employee must take his time to sell himself first. First, he must make the employer really, really interested. Then, and only then, shall he name his price.